Blueberry Crumb Bars

I've been a bit of a late bloomer in life, it's true. It took me a little while to get into things, take fashion for example. But! When I did, I did so with a vengeance, I assure you. Hence the Prada and Jimmy Choo dust bags littering my closet along with about 70 back issues of Vogue and a catalog of models' stats in my noodly little brain.

Well, there is sadly still a bit of this in me today. Like, can you believe I had never really read Smitten Kitchen until just a few weeks ago? Oh, yeah. Like, for real. I mean, I had heard of the blog and a few people spoke of the gorgeous photography on the blog, but I just never made my way over there. I even made a recipe from the site once, but I must have been in a hurry and didn't look up at all.

Well, whew! That was a mistake. I was just bee-bopping around on the Internet the other day and fell into one of Jen's posts, and my goodness - sucked right in. And as per my usual personality, I gobbled up her posts with a vengeance, like sat there oogling the photos and reading posts for at least a good few hours. And I copied like a million recipes. So be forewarned, there will be lots of Smitten Kitchen goodies probably posted on here in the future. I'll try to contain myself and spread them out a bit if that helps.

And on to the first of many I'm sure :) First up: Blueberry Bars. I wanted to make a bar recipe to take to my last book club meeting, but couldn't decide what to make. I didn't want anything too chocolatey, I had had my fill of peanut butter treats for awhile... And then, these screamed up at me to make them. Perfect! Especially in the winter, when you're starting to crave some fruit again. They were tart-ish but sweet, definitely buttery, and that crumbly topping is just to die for. Great recipe!

These bars will be my go-to fruit bar recipe from here on out, as I can see them in a million different incarnations, with peaches or cherries or strawberries or cranberries...

Blueberry Crumb Bars

(from allrecipes.com, by way of Smitten Kitchen)

Ingredients:

1 c. white sugar

1 tsp. baking powder

3 c. all-purpose flour

1 c. cold butter (2 sticks)

1 egg

1/4 tsp. salt

Zest and juice of one lemon

4 c. fresh blueberries

1/2 c. white sugar

4 tsp. cornstarch

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Grease a 9×13 inch pan.

In a medium bowl, stir together 1 cup sugar, 3 cups flour, and baking powder. Mix in salt and lemon zest. Use a fork or pastry cutter to blend in the butter and egg. Dough will be crumbly. Pat half of dough into the prepared pan.

In another bowl, stir together the sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice. Gently mix in the blueberries. Sprinkle the blueberry mixture evenly over the crust. Crumble remaining dough.

Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until top is slightly brown. Cool completely before cutting into squares.